BHL and Specimen Collection Data: The needle in the Festuca stack

Abstract

Data contained in the the Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) describes collections held in the world's major museums. Finding those collections data, however, remains a challenge. A literal needle in a Festuca stack as some have noted. BHL is actively engaging in incorporating tools (including Digital Object Identifier's (DOI's)and the recently launched full-text search) to make finding and linking to collection specimen information better. Still, it is not easy to find specific collections information in the non-semantically tagged BHL content. This session will call for ideas on how to locate this content.. BHL is an international consortium, making research literature openly available to the world as part of a global biodiversity community. The BHL was created in 2006 as a direct response to the needs of the taxonomic community for access to early literature. The original BHL organizational model, based on United States and United Kingdom partners, provided a template for what is now over 80 global partners. Through this extensive network of Members, Affiliates, and partners, over 56 million pages of biodiversity literature are available through the BHL portal. BHL changes the lives of researchers and assists the work of collections managers. By enhancing daily research at the Smithsonian and Harvard, BHL provides a global network of researchers with an easy-to-use digital library of content and services.